Spooky Stuff That Happened in My Childhood Home

In honor of my favorite holiday, I wanted to write a post of some of the weird, still inexplicable things that happened in my childhood home. Now, I moved quite a bit as a kid, but the home I lived in the longest (up until the age of 15) was between the years of 2004-2009. During that time, I will admit I was watching a lot of A Haunting on the Discovery Channel (who remembers this gem?)—so I could have admittedly been provoked by stories of ghosts, demons, and moving dolls to think I saw these things around the house. But a few of the things that happened still can't be explained rationally, at least to me. So, let's begin.

My first stepdad passed away in 2006 when I was about 11. Two weeks after his passing, as I sat on the couch doing homework with the TV humming in the background, the volume suddenly turned off. I looked up, confused, and saw that the TV had gone black. I looked to the DVD console and saw that, instead of listing the digitized numerals to say the time, it said: "ZOE." I froze, and within seconds the TV came back to life at the volume it was at before. I looked all around me, thinking that somehow this was a trick, that maybe my older brother had done something to fool me. I was alone. I ran upstairs to tell my mom what happened, and, since she is a believer in spirits and ghosts like me, she told me it was my stepdad saying hello.

Along the same story line of a recently deceased stepfather, my younger siblings and I shared a room in this house. Keely and I shared a double bed, while my brother Kel had his own twin bed next to us. Keely was very young at the time, only 6 or 7, and began telling my mom that she saw our stepdad walking around the house at night in his pajamas. Now, she could have easily been dreaming or just using her childish imagination to help her see her stepdad who she missed—but she was pretty convinced. My mom thinks that his spirit was still sticking around to make sure we were ok after his death.

This next and final episode is brought to you by the doll car from hell. In the middle of the night, as my siblings slept in the aforementioned bedroom, I began to hear this whirring sound. Puzzled and fatigued, I opened my eyes and sat up in bed to see what the hell was going on this late. I then saw, to my horror, that our Bratz toy convertible was moving back and forth, around and sideways—all on its own. I looked to the remote used to control it that sat beside me on the nightstand, and took out the batteries. It still moved. I hissed at Kel to wake up so I could have a witness. His eyes bulged out of his head as he stared down at the animated toy vehicle. I took a deep breath and picked up the car so I could take out its batteries as well. After yanking them out, I placed the car back down on the floor, and my brother and I waited to see if it would stop. The car then started driving around in circles. Kel and I bolted out of bed and ran to our mom's room. She followed us into our room and we rushed to the car that was now standing perfectly still. Keely was now awake, and arguably confused, as to why her siblings were ogling at the Bratz car. We swore to our mom that it was moving on its own—because it WAS—and my mom told us to put it in the downstairs closet. Over the next few weeks, we could hear the car wheels whirring inside the coat closet, and Kel and I would commence to freak out.

As you can see, this is some pretty weird and spooky shit. Could some of it have been our imaginations? Sure, you could argue that. But to me, I know my stepdad was around after his passing to make sure we were ok. As for the car, I have no idea. It's still the spookiest thing that ever happened to me. How could you possibly explain it still driving around after both sets of batteries had been removed? What—or who—was causing it? I'll never know, but it makes for a spooky tale.

See you next Sunday for some more content to add to the Halloween festivities.